Shadow and the Black Knight
by SoloMafia
Summary: When Merlina opened up the portal to Camelot, Sonic did not fall out as expected. No, Merlina has summoned a much darker anti-hero to the world of Camelot, one who promises to defeat King Arthur, but not to do it Merlina's way or to save the people of Camelot. But why is it that Shadow was chosen and not Sonic, why the violent black hedgehog and not the friendly blue one?


**Here's a story that I merely felt like writing. Enjoy, as this will be the only author's note in entire bloody thing**

**I don't own Shadow the Hedgehog or anyone else.**

A raven pecked at a bull's skull in the dreary hills. The plains were a bluish green due to the grey clouds that hung over the pasture in the sky, showing the possibility of rain that day.

Suddenly, the midnight black raven took off, leaving only a single feather behind. The cause of this was a purple hooded girl, running from something behind her, her staff in hand. She was breathing heavily as her pursuer was only moments behind her.

Her pursuer was in the sky upon a horse. Normally that would seem impossible, but it was clearly not a normal man as he was clad in golden armor with black highlights and a hot pink tattered cape, was clearly over seven feet tall and had a six foot sword hanging from his hip in a scabbard that seemed to pulse with power.

As the horse, which was clad in similar armor as the man, galloped through the air forward, the man drew his sword and seemingly cut a rift into the sky, from which beings of nightmare, also known as knights of the underworld, dove out from into the world of Camelot.

The girl gave a small gasp and stopped running as she was cornered by the underworld beings. The girl gave a determined look as she stabbed her staff into the ground, from which a blue light appeared.

"Ifaras zaras yezaras… Ifaris zaris yezarik… O' brave knight, dark as the night, but heart as light as the day, heed my call!" The girl chanted as the blue light surrounded her and shot to the sky in a pillar fashion, opening a portal in the sky.

And from that portal fell a hedgehog, black as night with blood red stripes upon his quills. He let out a few curse words as he grabbed the gun he had been cleaning and the few magazines that fell with him as he activated his air shoes and stopped falling just before he hit the ground.

He gave an angry grunt as stuffed the mags into his quills and made sure that his green chaos emerald was still there. The hedgehog gave a content sigh when he felt his hand come in contact with the green gem of unlimited power.

The hedgehog looked around at the new landscape as he loaded his gun and cocked it as the girl ran up behind him.

"Being from a distant world! Forgive my abrupt summons" She begged as she pulled down her hood, revealing her purple hair and elvish ears. The hedgehog looked around, ignoring the girl and just now noticing the dark knights surrounding them.

The hedgehog checked to see how many bullets he had in his mag, 17, as the man on the horse slowly cantered towards them.

One of the underworld knights got impatient and lunged at the hedgehog and girl, only for a gunshot to echo throughout the hills and the knight to dissolve into shadows. Make that 16 left in the mag.

The hedgehog let out a somewhat angry huff at the man on the horse, "Who do you think you are, challenging the ultimate lifeform?" He asked, fury lacing his tone. "I'll show you true power," He growled as he pulled the green gem out of his quills.

"Chaos… Spear!" He shouted as yellow spears came raining down from the sky, blasting into the dark knights, melting them back into the shadows.

After all the nights of the underworld had disappeared, there the black hedgehog stood, twirling his Beretta 92 as he glared holes into the dark king's head.

The dark king placed his hand on his sword, preparing to draw it from its scabbard as the black hedgehog continued to spin his Beretta. The dark horse nickered as it prepared to charge and the black hedgehog slipped into a battle stance and began to charge the dark king.

The black hedgehog made it about three feet before he was grabbed by the arm by the girl. "No!" She cried, "You mustn't!" She yanked the black hedgehog back, making him nearly drop the gun in his hand as she thrusted her staff out and a cyclone developed around her and the hedgehog as they disappeared.

The dark king on the horse let out a huff as he took his hand off the massive sword and kicked his horse to get it moving again as it took off into the air. As he cantered into the air, he rode by three knights on a cliff, one a hedgehog, one a echidna and the final a cat, who all kneeled to the king.

"I shall give chase," He said. "Spread out and go after them, slay them on sight." The King said before riding off.

"Let's go," The purple cat said as they all stood.

"Must we? She is the royal wizard, after all." The red echidna questioned.

"The King's orders are absolute Gawain," The hedgehog stated.

"Yes but-" Gawain started

"Without loyalty to the King, we are nothing," the purple cat stated as the hedgehog walked away. "Still," she continued, "The king, he has changed, and this kingdom…" The cat trailed off a she and Gawain walked away from the cliff and three ravens flew overhead.

The hedgehog and the girl walked through a forest at a decent pace, one full of questions, the other holding the answers.

"Why did you stop me?" The black hedgehog questioned, "He would have been no match for me, as I am far too powerful," The hedgehog growled.

"You do not understand," The girl spoke, "He cannot be wounded,"

The hedgehog scoffed, "Everything can be wounded, you just need to find it's weak point," He said, somewhat referencing his battle to the BioLizard/FinalHazard.

"But he cannot be wounded, as he bears the scabbard of Excalibur." She said.

"Does that really matter? What is this, Excalibur and why is it so important?" The black hedgehog questioned.

"Excalibur was King Arthur's sword, you are in the land ruled by King Arthur."

The hedgehog scoffed again, "I was under the impression that he was a good person, not a tyrant"

The girl seemed to think for a second, "Let us go, we can talk along the way, allow me to introduce myself first though. My name is Merlina the Wizard"

The hedgehog looked at her for a second before replying with, "I'm Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform."

Merlina nodded as they walked forward, but stopped when they saw a sword in the ground, it was rusty and old, but Shadow walked over and pulled it out of the ground anyways, and continued walking as they reached some old ruins.

"First," Merlina stated in Shadow's mind, "I would like for you to get accustomed to my world." She said, causing Shadow to jump a bit before remembering she was a wizard.

"Seems fair," Shadow said as he twirled the sword and shot forward, knowing she could talk to him in his mind and probably transport herself to his location if need be. "I have a feeling the rules may be different this time," He muttered as he stuffed his Beretta into his quills and continued to run across ruined bridges into a swamp.

"I wish for you to learn swordsmanship, starting from the basics," Merlina said.

Shadow scoffed, "I am the Ultimate Lifeform, I do not need basics," Shadow said as he slashed through the targets that appeared in front of him with perfect ease. He had much practice with egg lances, black arms swords and street poles during the invasion, causing him to develop his own style of swordsmanship.

As Shadow raced through the fog, slashing the targets as he went, Merlina seemed genuinely impressed, she would have thought that she would summon a rookie, but instead she summoned an expert. It would make her plan easier and harder at the same time.

Shadow reached the end of the ruins in no time flat and scoffed. "That was far too easy." Shadow said as Merlina appeared in front of him and they continued walking.

"Arthur was once a wise and just ruler," Merlina said, catching Shadow's attention. "He was blessed with noble knights and praised by all, however…" Merlina trailed off.

"He became corrupted by power, like most leaders do?" Shadow questioned, as if already knowing the answer.

"Yes," Merlina sighed. "Nimue, the lady of the lake, gave him Excalibur. He was bewitched by the power of Excalibur, and the immortality that it's scabbard bestowed."

_So I'm not the only immortal around here,_ Shadow thought to himself.

"He became immortal, summoning legions from the underworld. He is plunging this kingdom into a world of horror and chaos" Merlina said.

"It's like Black Doom all over again," Shadow muttered.

"We need you to stop him Shadow, and we need to act now." Merlina urged.

Shadow scoffed, "So we're just going to forget about the whole immortal thing? What about that?" Shadow questioned Merlina, who pointed forwards with her staff.

"Beyond this lake, sleeps a sacred sword, with that sword-"Merlina began, but was cut off by Shadow.

"I'll be able to defeat Arthur, yeah, yeah I'll go get it" Shadow muttered as he revved up his air shoes and began to skate off, but Merlina grabbed him by the arm.

"Wait! Shadow!" Merlina said as she placed a gauntlet on Shadow's hand that easily fit over his inhibitor ring. Shadow gave a nod of thanks before skating off.

As Shadow skated off into the field full of purple flowers, heard Merlina speak in his head once again. "The fate of our kingdom rests in your hands, do not fail us" Shadow snorted, _So no pressure then_. He thought sarcastically.

"I make no promises to save everyone in this kingdom Merlina, but I will try," Shadow said as he skated onwards, nearing the ruins once again. Apparently, Merlina wasn't satisfied with his swordsmanship before as more targets popped up in front of him once again, which Shadow promptly slashed his way through.

As he neared the end of the targets, Shadow hopped onto a rail which he slid across using the grip of his shoes. _This is more like home!_ Shadow thought as he did a few flips and cut more targets down from the air.

"Are all creatures from your world as coordinated as you?" Merlina asked in Shadow's head. Shadow scoffed, immediately thinking of Eggman and Vector, who were not as acrobatic as him.

"No, not in the slightest." Shadow replied as he bounced off another castle wall and landed on a bridge.

Shadow stood up and prepared to skate off when he saw at least nine bulls running towards him. "Defend Yourself!" Merlina screamed in his head. Shadow decided that he didn't even need to block the bulls, his hand immediately went to his quills and brought out the green emerald.

"Chaos… Control!" Shadow yelled as time slowed down around them and he lept over the bulls before allowing time to resume.

"What was that Shadow?!" Merlina questioned in his head. Shadow merely replied with "Chaos Control." As he raced along, cutting down more targets as he went. After Shadow passed what was left of the targets, he ran across another bridge from which more bulls charged at him. Shadow didn't even bother with the emerald this time and merely lept from the back of one bull to the other until there were none left.

After Shadow departed the rickety old bridge, he skated across stone bridges that burned with blue fire torches, causing Shadow to wonder what type of chemicals they used to burn that color.

"You truly are talented with the sword Shadow, is this why you are called the Ultimate Lifeform?" Merlina asked in his head.

Shadow scoffed, "If you want to see why I am called the Ultimate Lifeform, give me a larger challenge than just jumping bulls and slashing targets." Shadow said as he reached the end of the bridges and raced out into the planes, slashing and cutting all of the targets that Merlina kept summoning with perfect ease.

Soon enough, Shadow arrived at the main part of the ruins of the abandoned castle, where the fog grew thick and the air grew cold. He raced across the ruined hall as Merlina let out a small laugh in his head.

"Very well," Merlina said, mirth lacing her tone "Why don't I prepare something a little more… challenging" Merlina said as a massive figure swooped down from overhead. "Behold! The ruler of this lake: The Mist Dragon!" Merlina said as a massive green dragon with blue spikes and red eyes landed and let out a huge roar.

Shadow looked at the beast for a moment before charging in head first, his eyes filled with determination. Shadow let out a yell as he jump and slashed at the beast's eyes, knocking off many scales in the process as the dragon roared once again.

The force of the roar knocked Shadow backwards, where he quickly stood up and dodged the dragon's attempt to turn him into a pancake with it's head. The shockwave made Shadow stagger a bit, but not much as he leapt right back into action, this time slicing off the dragon's front blue spike with one fell slash, causing the dragon to roar and take off.

Shadow rolled his eyes at the fleeing beast. "I said I wanted a challenge Merlina, not a play thing."

"T-that was amazing! Defeating the Mist Dragon like it was nothing. The mark of a true knight!." Merlina said, her voice filled with awe as the black hedgehog took down the beast that not even Lancelot of the round table dared to fight.

As Shadow neared a huge tree, he slowed down as he saw a sword impaled in the stone next to it. Sacred sword or not, it was better then the rusty piece of waste that he was currently carrying.

Shadow quickly hopped up the rocks and prepared to remove the sword when Merlina stopped him. "Are you ready?" Merlina asked Shadow.

"Ready for what?" Shadow returned.

"If you remove that sword and defeat King Arthur with it, you shall forever be the worst of knights, slayer of kings!" Merlina warned.

Shadow let out a sigh, another adventure where he got to be the bad guy. "I am never the hero Merlina, this will be nothing new," Shadow said as he pulled the gold hilted sword out of the rock. Shadow snorted as he looked at the sword in front of him, "Some sacred sword," he muttered.

"It goes by the name Caliburn," Merlina replied helpfully.

"It looks like a scrap of metal," Shadow replied.

"FOOL!" The sword shouted.

Shadow, not expecting this, jumped a bit and stared at the sword, which could now speak, in front of him. "You are the chosen one? You are but a squire!" The sword said to Shadow, who growled in annoyance.

"I could have let you rust in that stone, be grateful!" Shadow bickered back.

"The sword has a mind of it's own, it selects its bearer" Merlina said to both Caliburn and Shadow.

"It's a bit of a smartass for a sword," Shadow muttered.

"Hmph! The impertinent one is you, knave" Caliburn mocked.

"I am no Knave, sword, I am the Ultimate Lifeform!" Shadow yelled at the sword, who merely rolled it's green eyes.

"Then you must brace yourself, _Ultimate Lifeform, _as I will train you until you are ready." The sword said, mocking Shadow, who, by now merely wanted to shoot the sword then empty 15 rounds into King Arthur and see how immortal he was then.

Shadow would get to meet King Arthur face to face sooner than he would think though, as Shadow heard galloping and spun around to see King Arthur galloping across the sky, sword drawn, ready to fight him.

"Hmph, Finally, let's go Caliburn, try to be useful for something." Shadow said as he raced towards King Arthur.

"Let us see the power of your so called 'sacred sword' King Arthur mocked as he rode away from Shadow, who yelled that the king was a coward and raced after him.

When Arthur finally turned around to meet Shadow, the black blur quickly met all of his strikes and delivered several of his own, surprising the dark king greatly as he rode off again.

"Get back here you coward!" Shadow shouted.

"Pursue me at your own peril, weakling!" Arthur shouted back as Shadow raced after him and cut down the underworld knights that got in his way. When Shadow once again caught up to Arthur, he struck quickly stabbing and slicing, even managing to slice the helm of the King's armor before the black knight rode away again.

Shadow followed once again, but this time ground on a rail of the bridge after King Arthur, and then threw Caliburn like a knife, striking King Arthur and knocking him off of his horse, where he then vanished into the shadows.

Arthur then appeared, kneeling on the ground as he scabbard glew blue and seemingly healed Arthur, who then stood up and drew Deathcalibur and pointed it at Shadow once again.

"This will only go on forever, an endless battle between two immortals, are you sure you are a sacred sword Caliburn?" Shadow asked the sword he was wielding, who apparently rolled his eyes.

"It is you, Knave, that lacks the proper fighting skills," The sword retorted, as Shadow prepared to make an 'I am the Ultimate Lifeform' statement, Arthur interrupted them.

"Ha, you are but a fool of a knight, not even worth my slaying!" Arthur mocked as he teleported onto his horse.

"You see, even he thinks so as well," Caliburn quipped as he jumped out of Shadow's hand and impaled itself tip first into the ground.

"Well it is more your fault then mine, you sorry excuse for a piece of scrap metal," Shadow growled at Caliburn.

Merlina spoke up, interrupting the oncoming argument. "For as long as he bears that scabbard, we may never be able to defeat King Arthur," The royal wizard spoke miserably.

Shadow snorted, "I told you so, but you ignored the immortality part, what must we do?" the midnight hedgehog spoke.

"We must ask the scabbard's former owner how to hinder it's power." Caliburn spoke.

"And who is this former owner?" Shadow asked.

"Nimue," Merlina spoke, "The lady of the lake, the one I mentioned earlier."

Shadow grabbed Caliburn and hefted him onto his shoulder, "Then what are we stalling for?" Shadow asked, "We must find the lady of the lake"

"I fear it is not as simple as that, Shadow," Caliburn said.

"What stands in my way?" Shadow asked hotly.

"You shall be forced to see for yourself, onwards my young knave!" Caliburn said, once again annoying Shadow.

"Stop calling me Knave or I shall stuff you back into the ground, Caliburn, I am the Ultimate Lifeform! Shadow the Hedgehog!" Shadow yelled at Caliburn, quickly losing his patience.

The sword, however, remained calm. "Very well then, I shall call you, Knave the Hedgehog, the Knavish Lifeform!" The sword announced and Shadow had enough.

Shadow threw Caliburn as far as he could to his right, only for Merlina to stick her staff out and bring Caliburn back.

"Get along you two," Merlina said softly.

"Fine, run along Knave," Caliburn spoke.

Shadow growled, "Fine you oversized bayonet," Shadow said as he skated across the wooden bridge in front of them. Merlina made more targets appear in front of them, this time some of them shaped like villagers.

Shadow paid that no mind as he cut down all the targets, even the villager ones, with perfect ease, while Merlina spoke in his head "We have some work to do…" Merlina trailed off.

Shadow growled at the wizardess, "Back of Merlina, they are targets, not people,"

"Yes but they represent people, if you so willingly cut down people, what makes you a good knight?" Caliburn asked.

"Maybe I'm not the hero you wanted," Shadow growled, thinking of how the faker would have loved this one, "I'm not a hero, I'm always the villain, get used to it Caliburn," Shadow growled at the sword.

Caliburn said nothing.


End file.
